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March of Women 2000 Makes For Strange Bedfellows

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 19 (LSN.ca) - Catholic participation in the World March of Women 2000 (WMW) has been a strange phenomenon and one restricted for the most part to Canada where four Catholic organizations - the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), the Catholic Women's League (CWL), the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP), and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC)- officially supported the March. At an October 17 New York rally on the final day of the WMW, thousands of feminists gathered to hand in their list of 17 demands to the UN. The demands included one for access to abortion (in the language of "reproductive health") and one in favour of homosexuality. Officially speaking at the WMW rally in Washington and proudly marching in the WMW at the UN was the notorious pro-abortion, anti-Catholic group "Catholics for a Free Choice" (CFFC).

The 17 demands were handed to Deputy Secretary- General Louise Frechette (from Canada) with signatures from 300,000 women, claimed to be a sampling of a total of 6.7 million that were collected around the world - signatures that Catholic leaders at least in Canada encouraged. Frechette's speech noted that organizers of the WMW were women from the Quebec feminist group Federation des Fammes du Quebec (FFQ). While FFQ leaders went on record as confirming that one demand asked for abortion rights, Canadian Catholic leaders refused to accept the official interpretation. However, other groups associated with the WMW realized full well the outcome of the WMW would be a strong show of support for abortion and homosexual "rights". Hence the intimate participation of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, the National Organization of Women and Catholics for Free Choice.

From the official U.S. WMW page (http://www.worldmarch.org/) marchers could purchase buttons, signs and T-shirts to promote the WMW agenda. Slogans on the items included:
"Against Abortion? Don't Have One", "God is an abbreviation for Goddess", "Lesbian Rights NOW - Rise to the Challenge", "Forced Pregnancy Increases Church Membership", "I Asked God, She's Pro-choice", "If Men Became Pregnant Abortion Would Be a Sacrament", "Sorry I've Missed Church, I've Been Busy Practicing Witchcraft and Becoming a Lesbian", "God Please Save Me From Your Followers."

The "See Change" Delegation of Catholics for a Free Choice marched in both Washington, DC and New York, carrying banners with the messages: "Keep the UN Safe For Women. End Vatican Statehood" and "Warning: Vatican Statehood is Dangerous to Women's Health." CFFC delivered a speech to the WMW Washington DC gathering of reportedly some 25,000 women in front of the White House. In the message CFFC speaker Serra Sippel's emphasized that "The Catholic church is complicit in interfering with women's reproductive rights around the world." Sippel said "The church's opposition to contraception and abortion makes it an impediment to the health and well being of women. In a situation where women are dying from the lack of access to contraception and safe abortion, we call into question the Vatican's status at the United Nations in order to reduce its impact on women's lives."

Meanwhile in Canada at the Ottawa demonstration of the WMW, the Mass participated in by six Canadian bishops included a homily delivered by three of the bishops each, differently phrasing their strong support for the WMW. Bishop Fred Henry referred to the WMW as a "wonderful celebration" and told the assembled thousands of Catholics "our work is to believe, sing and dance, yes, even to march." Bishop John Sherlock, in his portion of the homily said "In protesting the victimization of women through violence and poverty we stand squarely in the Catholic tradition, both ancient and contemporary." While he admitted that "The Holy See has not explicitly supported the March of Women," he said its work at the UN "in my opinion, confirms that our objectives in supporting the March are reflections of positions powerfully promoted by the Church." Archbishop Marcel Gervais said that the plight of poor women and those subjected to violence "oblige us" to participate in the march with "Mary, our mother" as "our model."

See the CFFC press release at:
http://www.cath4choice.org/new/pressrelease/101300CallForEquality.htm

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